BEGIN, strict, and variable assignment

dragonchild has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I've got something in a .t along the lines of:

use strict;

my %tests;
BEGIN {
    %tests = (
        # Stuff here
    );
}

use Test::More tests => (keys(%tests) * 5 + 1);

use_ok( Some::Class );

# Tests here
[download]

Is there a way to avoid having to declare %tests and then assign to %tests on another line?

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Comment on BEGIN, strict, and variable assignment Download Code

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Re: BEGIN, strict, and variable assignment by blokhead (Monsignor) on Mar 03, 2004 at 14:04 UTC
If you put the number of tests into a `plan` command (not in the `use Test::More` statement), you don't need to have `%tests` available at BEGIN-time: `use Test::More; my %tests = ( foo => .. bar => .. ); plan tests => (keys(%tests) * 5 + 1); # etc` [download] blokhead	[reply] [d/l]
Re: BEGIN, strict, and variable assignment by TimToady (Parson) on Mar 03, 2004 at 16:44 UTC
This doesn't do you any good right now, but the Perl 6 approach will be to add a trait that can initialize at the appropriate moment: `my $var will begin("stuff"); # at BEGIN time my $var will check("stuff"); # at CHECK time our $var will init("stuff"); # at INIT time state $var will first("stuff"); # at FIRST use time my $var will enter("stuff"); # at block ENTRY time has $.var will build("stuff"); # at object init time` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: BEGIN, strict, and variable assignment by broquaint (Abbot) on Mar 03, 2004 at 13:53 UTC
Is there a way to avoid having to declare %tests and then assign to %tests on another line? In a word 'no', or at least, not using lexicals. You could just use a package var however `our %tests = ( ... ); ## or the more compatible, less line lean use vars '%tests'; %tests = ( ... );` [download] Or perhaps `use Test::More tests => do { ... };` [download] HTH `_________ broquaint`	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: BEGIN, strict, and variable assignment (?) by tye (Sage) on Mar 03, 2004 at 17:49 UTC
I don't see how any of these suggestions help in this situation. You still need to put the initialization into a BEGIN block (for the first two suggestions) which means the declaration needs to be separated from the initialization (except in the second case, where they are already separated) or else the variable won't be of any use outside of the BEGIN block. So to use any of the suggestions you made, you'd still need the declaration separated from the initialization. - tye	[reply]
Re: Re^2: BEGIN, strict, and variable assignment (fecklessness) by broquaint (Abbot) on Mar 03, 2004 at 18:01 UTC
You're completely right, I really don't know what I was thinking. The above examples would need to be re-written as `BEGIN { our %tests = ( ... ) } BEGIN { use vars '%tests'; %tests = ( ... ) }` [download] Which does indeed make them rather redundant suggestions. The suggestion from blokhead in Re: BEGIN, strict, and variable assignment looks to be the most sensible route to take. HTH `_________ broquaint`	[reply] [d/l]
Re: BEGIN, strict, and variable assignment by Anonymous Monk on Mar 03, 2004 at 16:04 UTC
`use vars::i '%tests' => 1, 2, 3; use Test::More tests => (keys(%tests) * 5 + 1); use_ok( Some::Class );` [download]	[reply] [d/l]